


Trouble In Skyrim

by haunter_ielle



Category: Companions Guild: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 13:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30107001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haunter_ielle/pseuds/haunter_ielle
Summary: After a long year of war and death, Karalissa and Vilkas take a vacation. As they travel through Skyrim, they find both adventure and trouble.Series of one-shots where Vilkalissa does side quests. This story takes place between Liberation of Skyrim and Before the Storm.
Relationships: Aela the Huntress/Farkas, Female Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Vilkas, Lydia (Elder Scrolls)/Original Character(s), Male Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Lydia, Vilkas (Elder Scrolls)/Original Character(s), Vilkas (Elder Scrolls)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. The Pale Lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karalissa and Vilkas begin their vacation, but they don't have any ideas about what they should do. Later, Karalissa runs into a stranger (literally) who gives them an insight about some possible adventure.
> 
> POV: Karalissa

I blinked against the wind, staring up at the clouds from where I laid in the grass. Puffy, white pillows against a soft, azure sky, blocking the sun from my view. Watching the clouds had always been one of my favorite things to do. No matter where you were, the sky was always there, but the clouds were always changing.

Behind me, I heard Vilkas stir from his sleep. He’d propped himself up against a tree and opened a book about an hour ago, but he’d only finished a few pages before he was out cold. I’d wanted to wake him, but he was so tired, I decided to just let him snooze for a while.

I sat up from my spot as he shuffled and stood, stretching his arms and yawning. He looked around for me, inhaling once or twice and then turning his head toward me. I gave him a little wave, probably about thirty feet from him.

“Hi there, sleepy.”

He smirked, grunting in acknowledgement. Vilkas normally wasn’t very nice after he woke up, so a smile and a grunt was the best I could hope for from him. He bent over to pick up his pack, then walked toward me.

Vilkas plopped down behind me, keeping one of his knees bent and stretching the other out on the right side of me. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him and pressing a firm kiss against my cheek.

“Hi.” he whispered against my face, blowing a gust of morning breath right into my nose.

“Agh.” I moaned, laughing and pulling my face away from him just enough to look up at him. “You’re cute and all, but your breath is rancid.”

Vilkas shrugged, reaching into the pack and pulling an apple out. He took a huge bite, chewing slowly and swallowing. Then he blew into my face again.

“Better?”

I raised my eyebrows and pursed my lips, trying to convey a look of indifference. “Slightly. You could use a toothbrush, though.”

Vilkas snorted. “This is basically the same thing.”

“Oh my gods.” I mumbled. “You’re disgusting.”

He laughed, taking another bite of the apple as I leaned back against him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then rested his arm on his bent knee. We both stared out at the lake before us in silence for a long time, listening to the wind and the birds and each other breathing.

“What have you been doing?” he asked me. “Anything exciting?”

I shook my head. “Just this. Sitting.”

He exhaled loudly, pulling grass and pine needles out of my hair. “Sorry I fell asleep.”

“No apology needed, Villy.” I assured him. “You sat around yesterday while I slept.”

“That was in an inn, Kara. It’s a little different.”

“No it isn’t. If anything, I had the convenience of sleeping in a bed with warm furs while you propped yourself up against a tree. Clearly, you were at a disadvantage.”

Vilkas laughed. “Whatever you say, pup.” He took another bite of his apple, then kissed the side of my forehead mid-chew. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

I sighed. Honestly, I should have come up with some sort of itinerary before we left Whiterun. We’d decided that it would be more fun to just get out into Skyrim and let the adventure find us, travel wherever we wanted that day. Unfortunately, we were having trouble coming up with ideas.

“I’m not sure, honestly.” I said as Vilkas held the apple in front of my face. I took a bite, then returned it to him. “We’ve become old people, just like Aela said. We go on vacation and all we’ve done is sleep.”

“It’s been three days, dear.” Vilkas said, finishing him apple and tossing it into the field around us. With both hands free now, he wrapped them both around my torso, holding me tightly against him. “We’ll come up with something to do soon enough. Let’s just enjoy our time away from work.”

“Alright.” I said, sighing again. After a moment, I looked up at him. “Were you dreaming?”

He nodded, his expression not changing at all. “Aye.”

I felt my own face light up. I never dreamed, and according to Vilkas, that made me the weird one. He, on the other hand, dreamed every night. I stared up at him, my eyes wide with curiosity. “What was it about?”

Vilkas furrowed his brow, a small smile creeping across his face. “Kara, do you honestly want me to explain my dreams to you, or are you just asking because you think I want to talk about it?”

I snorted. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.” I shrugged. “Unless you’re tired of telling me.” He probably was, at that point. Every morning since he had told me he always dreamed, I’d asked him to relay them to me in elaborate detail. He seemed humored at first, content to tell me a new story every morning, but he seemed hesitant that morning.

“I’m not tired of telling you, I’m just not sure that you’ll find this one interesting.”

I rolled my eyes. “All of your dreams are interesting.”

Vilkas sighed, pressing his nose against the side of my face. “Alright, alright.” He sat upright, looking out at the lake again. “Farkas and I were just little pups, maybe six or seven, and we were running in a field. He was wearing this baggy gray shirt, one that he always wore when we were young, and his hair was growing long and flying behind him as I chased him. I think we were playing some game. Tag, or something of the sort.

“Our mother called us in to eat supper, and Farkas complained that he wasn’t done playing, but our mother just laughed and called us back to our camp with the promise of extra bread. When we sat, we ate our stew, and then she told us we had to have haircuts. Farkas threw this huge fit, because he always hated having his hair short, but our mother still cut our hair and then we went back to our game.

“Then, I was somewhere else. Older, somewhere in Whiterun. I don’t know exactly where, but I did. Does that make sense?” He waited for my response, and I nodded. It didn’t actually make sense to me, but I wanted to hear the rest. “Farkas and I were walking the trail we were on, headed toward this mountain, and his hair was long again. Like it is now.”

Vilkas sighed, and I looked up at him. He had a soft smile on his scarred face as he looked out at the scenery surrounding us. “Was that it?”

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at me. “Is that not enough?”

“That’s plenty, Villy. It just doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Vilkas laughed, looking back up at the lake. “Dreams usually don’t, dear.”

I laughed at that. “The one you had last night made perfect sense.”

“The one about the old woman and the corn?” he asked, laughing even louder. “That was the strangest dream I’ve ever had, and it made no sense at all!”

“It was symbolic!” I explained. “The old woman represented your fear of growing old, and the corn was the gods’ way of telling you that you need to eat better!”

Vilkas laughed louder than I’d ever heard, a booming gust of giggles that echoed through the woods around us. I loved when he laughed like that, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing along. After a moment, he just shook his head, leaning his head against mine.

“My mother would have loved you.” he said, growing quiet. “I wish you could have met her.”

I sat quietly for a few seconds, trying to figure out the right response. Vilkas had never actually spoken about his mother, aside from the one occasion when he told me that she was beautiful. I had no idea what had happened to her, or if Vilkas even knew. The only time he or Farkas ever spoke about their family was when they expressed their resentment toward their father, Jergen.

“What was she like?” I asked, looking up at him.

Vilkas spent a moment in thought. “My mother was the most wonderful person alive. She was smart and kind and generous and forgiving, and I wish she got more days than she did.” He shook his head, smiling. “She raised us on her own, while Jergen was off doing whatever it was Jergen did, and I can’t ever remember her complaining, or even looking upset or angry. She was always kind. Always happy.”

I furrowed my brow. “What happened to her?”

He sighed. “She had the Rot. She was sick for a long time, and then she was just gone.” His face fell slightly, his brows wrinkling and his eyes growing dark.

I reached up, putting my hand on the side of his face. “I’m sorry, Vilkas.” And I was. I didn’t know his mother had died from the Rot, just as Kodlak would have, had the Silver Hand not taken him first.

Vilkas pulled my hand away from his face, kissing my palm before letting it go. “Don’t be sorry, pup. I like to think that she’s in Sovngarde watching over my brother and I, and Jergen, if he hasn’t already gotten himself killed.”

I looked up at him, resting the back of my head against his shoulder. “You don’t know if Jergen is alive or not?” I blinked, waiting for a response patiently. I had never actually thought about whether or not Jergen was still roaming Skyrim. Vilkas always spoke about him in the past tense, like he was already gone. I silently kicked myself for making assumptions.

“Well…no.” Vilkas said, sighing quietly. “I suppose I always assumed he was lost in the war. That’s a good enough reason never to come back for your children, right?”

“Of course.”

Vilkas thought for a moment. “There’s always been that question in the back of my head, though. Is he actually gone, or did he just never come back?”

I furrowed my brow, staring up at him. “What would make you think that?”

Vilkas pursed his lips, his eyes growing angry as he stared out at the lake. “Our mother raised us by herself.” he explained. “Jergen was never there. When I was young and asking, she would tell me that he was off hunting or adventuring. She made up any excuse to make him sound like this big, strong Nord who had obligations to take care of before he came home to us. He came back to our camp every once in a while, just for a day or two, but he rarely spoke to me or Farkas. Just my mother.”

Vilkas’ clenched his jaw. “When we were six or so, she stopped eating. She never ate much before that week, but she always portioned some food for herself, even if she didn’t eat it. But that span of just a few days, she stopped making plates for herself. She didn’t eat at all. She just sat next to us by the fire and watched us eat. I can remember, very specifically, Farkas offering her some bread, and she had just smiled and told him she wasn’t hungry, but she praised him endlessly for being so giving.

“It’s funny.” Vilkas continued, momentarily breaking away from his tale. I could feel him growing angry, but he seemed to have a decent grasp on his own emotions. “The things you remember and the things you don’t. I don’t remember the rest of the week that led up to her death, but I remember her final day very vividly.” He shook his head. “It was so…normal. There was a man in our group of wanderers, I guess, who had played the fiddle all morning, and I woke to the sound of his quick tune. I had woken Farkas, turning to the left—no, right—and shaking him. He rubbed his eyes and then he smiled at me, because as we emerged from the tent, we saw that it was a perfect day.

“We’d pulled on our matching, dirty tunics and our little brown shoes and run down to the river with sticks and string. I had tied the string in knots at the end of our sticks and we had tried for an hour or so to catch fish.” Vilkas laughed to himself. “Farkas talked to whole time. He’s always loved stories, I’m sure you’ve realized by now, and he loved to tell them. It’s probably the reason we never caught anything. He never shut up.”

Vilkas’ face grew dark, darker than usual. “Around midday, a woman from our camp had come down to fetch us. Farkas and I were excited, thinking it was lunchtime and being absolutely exhausted from a morning of talking and not catching fish. I remember the look on her face exactly, so distraught and so disheartened. I almost felt bad for her, the way she looked at us. She told us our mother needed us urgently, and we ran back to our tent to see her.

“I have nightmares about it sometimes, my mother’s face that last day. She was in so much pain. I suppose she always had been, but she never let it show. She had no strength left to pretend, so when she saw us and began to cry, I had been so confused. I can’t speak for Farkas, and I’m not even sure that he remembers, but he seemed just as taken aback by it as I was. Our mother was always so happy. She had these bright green eyes, and her cheeks were always rosy underneath the hundreds of freckles spattered across her face. We almost didn’t recognize her, so hollow and drained of color. The light in her eyes was gone.

“She took our hands and cried while she spoke her last words to us. She told us how much she loved us, how much she would always love us. I remember she told Farkas to grow his hair however long he wanted, and he had smiled so big and kissed her cheek. She told me to take care of my brother, because he was smaller than I was.” He laughed quietly again, though I heard no humor in the sound. “That’s not the case anymore, but I feel like the same still applies.”

Vilkas ran his hand over his face, letting go of me entirely but not moving an inch from his spot. “The woman took us from the tent, had us sit outside while our mother took her last breath. The camp was very quiet after that. Our mother had always been the light, the life of the camp. She made the meals for everyone, she told the best stories, and without her it was so dark and just…quiet. The fiddler had stopped playing music, and I remember him sitting by his own tent, looking up at the sky and over at us every once in a while.

“The woman who had stayed with my mother until she died, she took us after that. I remember her telling the fiddler to send for Jergen, but while we waited for him, she would look after us. We had gone a few tents away, and I can’t remember what happened to her, but Farkas and I ended up in a circle of necromancers.”

“Necromancers?” I asked, staring up at him. His eyes were distant, and I’m not sure if he even heard me, because he never responded.

“Jergen found us there, in the circle of stone and skulls. He’d scooped us up and carried us off, and we’d lived out in the woods for a few days. I was so excited to see him, I’d talked and talked and talked. I wanted to tell him everything we’d done since the last time we’d seen him, all the things we’d seen. I’m sure it annoyed him, but he listened. I know he did.

“We were with him for a while, in the fields outside of Whiterun. He took us fishing one day a week, and he taught us how to make our own poles. Jergen seemed like he was trying, but ultimately, he was impatient with us. He tried to show me how to hunt, at only six years old, and I couldn’t hold a bow in my arms. He tried to teach Farkas how to read, but deemed that a waste of time.

“After a few weeks, he told us we were going fishing, and I had just worked for so long on this new fishing pole to use. It had been after a long list of failed projects, and I wanted Jergen to be impressed with me. We never turned for the lake, though, and he took us to Jorrvaskr. You know the rest.

“I really wonder sometimes if he ever loved us.” He laughed to himself for a final time, the sound low and angry. A soft growl accompanied the laugh as it trickled from his lungs. “I heard them fighting one night before she died, when Farkas was sleeping and they thought I was too. My mother asked Jergen if he was leaving her again, or if he was staying. He told her he didn’t want her anymore, he had another woman. A woman he loved. I remember not understanding what that meant, because how could he not love my mother? She didn’t even cry. She just told him to leave.

“Now that I’m a man and I understand what that means, I wonder if he had another family. A different wife and different children. A family that he picked over us, over my mother. She was sick and dying and he still left her to raise us on her own, and he didn’t care. He never did.” Vilkas began to shake, becoming overwhelmed by his own thoughts. “That’s how I knew he wasn’t coming back when he left us at Jorrvaskr. Farkas never heard them fight, he didn’t know that Jergen didn’t even want our mother. And if he couldn’t love someone as wonderful as her, how could he love us?”

I turned to face him, sitting on my knees and placing my hands on either side of his face as he continued to speak. “So I don’t really know if he died in the war or not. But if he didn’t, he probably went back to his other family. Not us.” Vilkas was trembling, his fists clenched as he tried to control the beast.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly as he tried to calm himself. Vilkas was almost always angry about something, but he very rarely became so overwhelmed that he couldn’t control the beast. I’d only seen him tremble like this twice before: just after Kodlak died and when Njada said that I’d only become Harbinger because the men in Jorrvaskr were attracted to me. Vilkas had always been a very giving person, willing to shove aside his emotions for the benefit of others. He let everything build up and fester under his skin, and when he broke, he completely lost himself, and this wound had been becoming deeper and deeper for more than twenty years.

Vilkas clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to gain some leverage over the beast. I ran my fingers through the hair against the back of his neck, humming softly against his scarred ear. I shut my own eyes, Vilkas’ shaking making my vision blurry. I held onto him, hoping that I was helping him and not just angering further.

After several minutes, Vilkas’ trembling ceased. His locked jaw relaxed, as did his back and shoulders. He wrapped his arms around the small of my back, holding me against his chest as he rested his face against the side of my head, listening to me hum quietly for a few minutes more.

“I’m sorry.” he whispered, his breath hot against my face.

I pulled away from him, far enough to look at him but close enough that he could still hold onto me. I pushed his hair away from his face, which adorned a cluster of dark, dominating scars and lingering sadness. “Nothing to apologize for, Villy.” I told him. “It’s okay to be angry and upset. You don’t have to pretend you don’t feel anything. Not with me.” I traced the scar across his face, stretching from the left side of his forehead to the middle of the opposite cheek. He shivered under the tip of my finger, shutting his eyes and resting his head against my shoulder.

Vilkas exhaled for a long time, then he lifted his head to look at me again. “I don’t know why I care so much. It doesn’t matter anymore, so why should I care?”

“It does matter.” I said, moving to sit beside him. “There are a lot of things that happen to us, to you and me and everyone. A lot of things that happen throughout our life and they can shape us and build us up and tear us down. But then, there’s that one thing. The big thing that happens and it becomes definitive of everything you are. It sits with you, in the pit of your stomach, threatening to pop up out of the blue and make you feel terrible all over again.

“But you’re thinking about it all wrong, Vilkas. You’re angry because you’ve always been angry. You’re mad because Jergen didn’t value your mother, mad because he chose a life that didn’t involve you or Farkas.” I reached out to scratch his back. “Think about it like this: Jergen was a terrible father, and quite honestly, it doesn’t sound like he was a very good person. Would you ever treat your children, our children, the way he treated you and Farkas?”

Vilkas jerked his head back in surprise, almost offended by my words. “Gods, no.”

I nodded. “And you wouldn’t treat me the way he treated your mother.”

He shook his head. “Of course not.”

“And there’s not even a possibility of you ever being anything like him. So in a way, the way things happened was beneficial to you as a person. You would never, will never, be anything like Jergen. You’re a loving husband, and you’ll be a wonderful father. You’re a good man, Vilkas.”

Vilkas softened a little, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“So think about it like that from now on.” I said, smiling up at him. “And it’s okay to care. I promise not to tell anyone.”

He laughed quietly, then he leaned down to give me a long, soft kiss. When he pulled away from me, he pressed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. “I love you, Karalissa.”

“And I love you, Villy.”

Vilkas sat up again, a small smile on his face and a rosy tint coloring his cheeks. He looked back out at the lake, sighing and shaking his head. “We still don’t have any plans for today.” I knew the change in subject was coming. Vilkas was the type to talk in depth about something important really quickly and then never bring it up again.

I groaned, leaning against his shoulder. “I know. It’s funny, before we left Whiterun I thought of a million things to do. Now I can’t think of a single activity.”

We sat silently for a moment, then Vilkas grunted, a signal that he had an idea. “Kara, do you remember when you had that silly argument with your brother?”

I smirked. “Which one?”

“The one where you said you could come up with a list of things that were more fun to do with your wife. Remember? He said he hated grocery shopping and offended Lydia.”

My eyes widened. “I do remember that.” I turned my head back to Vilkas, looking up at him with a huge grin. “By the Nine, Vilkas, you’re a genius.” I turned around, grabbing my pack from behind me and rummaging through it. I pulled out my worn emerald green book and began to flip through the pages.

Vilkas watched me with curious gray eyes. “You keep a journal?”

I shrugged. “Not really a journal, in all honesty. More like a collection of to-do lists and random thoughts or ideas. And little doodles.”

As I scanned various pages, Vilkas stopped me on a to-do list titled “To Do Before Bed”. He shook his head. “Gods, you are an old person.”

“Shut up.” I said, pushing his hand away and searching the book as he laughed. Finally, I found what I was looking for. “Here. See? I started the list.” Vilkas and I both read the page to ourselves.

Things that are Ten Times More Fun to do with Your Wife/Husband

Reading (Cassius is stupid)

Grocery Shopping (Cassius is stupid)

Swimming (who likes swimming alone anyway?)

Exploring Caves and Ruins

Climbing Mountains

Visiting New Cities

Cooking Things

Vilkas snickered, pointing at the line that said ‘climbing mountains’. “A little ambitious, don’t you think?”

I rolled my eyes. “Though ambitious, not incorrect.”

He smirked, then he scanned the page again. “How about a cave or a ruin? Fight a few bandits, loot some chests, see some stalagmite.” He gasped. “Maybe we’ll see stalagmite.”

I grinned. “Stalagmite? You’re excited about stalagmite, but I’m the old person.”

“Stalagmite is amazing, Kara. Have you ever actually seen stalagmite?”

I shrugged. “Once, maybe.”

“Maybe?” Vilkas stood, grabbing his pack and pulling me to my feet. “We need to find a cave. Come along, dear.” He pulled me toward the path behind us.

“Alright, alright.” I laughed. “Let’s find the old man some stalagmite.”

I sighed, shielding my eyes from the sun as we reemerged from the cave we’d spent an hour or two in. “Okay, Villy. You weren’t lying.” I gave him a little nudge with my elbow. “Stalagmite is really fascinating.”

“Told you so.” He said, tucking his small brown book back into his pack. Before Vilkas and I were married, I hadn’t spent much time in his room, so I was never around his personal belongings. Even after we were married, he had kept some of his things in his room because my bedroom didn’t have much storage. After we’d moved into our house, though, I had begun to notice that Vilkas kept several small books with yellowed paper nearby at all times. He never wrote anything in them, but when he saw something that fascinated him, he would sketch it down. He always kept one on his nightstand so he could put his dreams on paper when he felt inspired.

Once we found a cave, and Vilkas found some stalagmite, he had spent a good twenty minutes drawing the rising columns of earth with a charcoal pencil. I loved to watch him work, so intrigued by the way his hand could just replicate exactly what he saw with his eyes. My fascination likely stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t artistic in any way, but Vilkas always let me watch as long as I was quiet and I didn’t gawk at him.

With several elaborate sketches and a few hours of exploring past us, we began heading toward Falkreath. I had skipped ahead, genuinely enthused by the day’s turn of events, and I earned a quiet laugh from Vilkas behind me.

It was at that very moment that a figure collided with me, knocking me off of my feet and sending the two of us flying away from the path. We rolled a few feet and crashed into a rock adorned with a flag that marked the pathway. As I scrambled to my feet, drawing my bow and knocking an arrow to aim toward whoever had crashed into me, I heard Vilkas’ hurried footsteps and his low calling of my name.

I blinked twice, trying to reorient my senses from the sudden vertigo I was experiencing, no doubt caused by the collision. My sight focused on the figure before me, a woman’s face staring back from beyond the tip of my arrow. I stood before her, ready to release the sharp arrow if I needed to.

She stared up at me, her eyes dark and fierce beneath several stripes of red warpaint across her eyes. “Who in Dogon’s name are you?”

As Vilkas approached from behind, a Skyforge sword drawn in his left hand, I snorted. “I could ask you the same thing. Of course, it would be more appropriate in my case, because I’m not the one who ran into someone and demanded they give a name.”

She sighed, shaking her head and then nodding toward the veered path from where she came. “I was part of the gang in the ruins back there. Friend of mine went crazy and stole the boss’ sword. They blamed me for it.”

“That doesn’t sound like a problem of mine, stranger.” I said, raising an eyebrow.

The woman grinned, exposing bloody teeth. “Look, I’m done here. Mop the floor with those idiots for all I care, just get that damned bow out of my face.”

I thought about that for a moment, then I lowered my weapon and she ran off into the woods around us. As I watched her figure fade into the darkening fields beyond me, I heard Vilkas sheathe his weapon. He wrapped his arm around my torso, turning me to face him.

“Are you alright, Kara?” he ran his thumb over my chin, and when he pulled his hand away, his thumb glistened with warm, crimson blood.

Reaching up to my face and discovering a busted lip, I just nodded. “I’m fine.” I returned my arrow in use to the satchel on my back, but I kept my bow in my hand. I turned toward the veering side path the woman had gestured to earlier. “Think we should check it out?”

Vilkas’ face lit up. “I’m ready if you are, pup.”

I smirked, then we walked close together down the winding path. As the trees around us cleared, we approached a large set of crumbling stone stairs, tinted green with age and red with the blood of fallen bandits that cluttered the ground before us. I nudged one of them with my foot, for whatever reason, and they didn’t move at all.

I shook my head, staring down at the lifeless men and women. “Gods, you know, bandits might live longer if they wore better armor.” I used my foot to tap the fur skirt a man near me was wearing.

Vilkas snorted. “This is coming from the woman who thinks leather is protective.”

“Leather is protective enough, but it’s light. I’m out of the way before I can be struck, unlike you with your metal and gloves and skirt.”

Vilkas glared at me, an evil smile on his face. “Don’t insult the skirt, Kara. My armor doesn’t slow me down, and I’ll bet you anything that I could handle ten bandits before you could.”

“Is that a challenge, Vilkas? Because I like a challenge.” I felt a grin stretching across my face.

“Aye. It’s a challenge.” He put his hands on his hips, staring down at me with an eyebrow raised. “If you handle ten bandits before I do, you can pick what we do next. And I’ll pay for our sleeping arrangements tonight.”

I smirked, pulling my hair up into a ponytail. “And if you handle ten bandits before I do, I’ll buy you a pint. And I’ll pay for our room at an inn or whatever.”

Vilkas laughed, extending his hand to shake on the bet. “You’ve got yourself a deal, pup.” We exchanged a shake, then he pulled me toward him for a quick kiss before he drew his sword and dashed off toward the entrance.

“That’s not fair, Vilkas!” I shouted, following behind him and knocking an arrow. He waited for me at the entrance, a stupid smile on his smug face as he pushed the door open and let me in first. I gave him a nudge to the gut as I passed him.

Inside, we stayed low, listening for anything that could alert us to what was going on. With a quick inhale, I knew exactly where the first gang members were located, and Vilkas probably did too. Staying quiet, we pressed our backs up against the wall, trying to focus our hearing in their general direction.

Quiet voices, but completely audible to us, spoke from a few rooms away. “But…Eisa? She’s smarter than that.”

“Ra’jirr was always dragging her into things.”

“But stealing the boss’ sword? Did he have a death wish?”

“Eisa.” I whispered, so low only Vilkas could hear it.

Vilkas nodded. “Probably the woman that ran into you.”

“But who is Ra’jirr?” I spoke a little too loudly, and the men who were previously unaware of our presence stood and began to look around.

Vilkas smiled slyly. “Guess that will have to wait. I have a bet to win.” He stepped away from the wall, readying his sword in his left hand again. I took a moment to admire his gusto. Only a few weeks ago, Vilkas had nearly died and almost completely lost function of his right hand. It didn’t take him very long to recover, though his immobility irritated and embarrassed him. Vilkas was left-handed, so that wasn’t too much of a problem, but the transition from two-handed greatswords to one-handed Skyforge swords took him a little time. As usual, though, there was nothing Vilkas wasn’t good at, and as he sauntered into the pending battle, I couldn’t suppress a smile.

I stepped into the line of sight as well, watching Vilkas charge forward and strike the man in front. I moved two paces to the right of him, my bowstring taut and pressed against my cheek as I aimed for a woman who was rounding the corner. I released the arrow, sending it flying toward her and into her neck.

Three more bandits came into the room, and apparently decided that I was the weaker target, because two decided they would rush me while the other ran to Vilkas. I readied another arrow, sending it flying to the bandit in the back. As it made contact with his eye, the man in front was growing dangerously near. I raised my leg to kick him in the chest and shove him away from me. As he staggered, he grabbed my foot, taking my boot with him as he stumbled. Just before he swiped at my left arm, I pulled an arrow from my pack and used it like a dagger, driving it into the man’s chest and elbowing him in the face.

As I stood, Vilkas took down his own attacker, never even lifting his right arm. Looking over at me, he smirked as he scooped up my boot and tossed it to me.

“Maybe you should get some better boots, Kara.” he said as I caught the shoe. “You seem to lose them a lot.”

“I like them.” I countered, pulling my boot back on to cover my foot and the lower half of my calf. I lowered my stare, raising an eyebrow. “You know, I’m winning right now.”

“Not for very long, little girl.” Vilkas grumbled, grinning as he left the room. I followed behind him, but as we met a crossroads, we nodded to each other and silently agreed to go our separate ways.

As I walked quietly down the hall toward what looked like a bedroom, I heard more conversation coming from beyond me.

“What? There’s a whole shift down there looking for him.”

“Kyr’s orders. Nobody goes in or out until he gets back. Or the boss will skin you as soon as he’s done with Ra’jirr.”

“They’re still down there, huh? Then why are we up here?”

“Toss everything, Cyroch. He’s not coming back. Might as well take his coin.”

“Ah, never enough gold.”

I raised my bow again, quickly releasing an arrow and planting it in the back of the first bandit’s head. As he fell, the other two looked around frantically as they searched for me. I knocked another arrow, aiming for the woman but missing her by barely an inch. The arrow that flew past her ear alerted her of my location, and the two remaining bandits ran my way.

I sent another arrow toward one bandit, penetrating the flesh of their skull and lowering them to the ground as I ducked under the swing of the woman I’d missed earlier. I bolted toward the room they’d come from, readying an arrow and turning to send it in her direction. I didn’t miss again.

As I lowered my bow, I looked around the room they’d been tossing. It was definitely a bedroom, or what was left of one, as the contents of nearly every container had been emptied and spewed about the room. I noticed that the side table hadn’t even been touched, and I rolled my eyes at the ever-expectant obliviousness of bandits.

I pulled the drawer out, a worn folded letter resting amongst random pieces of paper that adorned charcoal drawing of creepy women. I felt a wave of worry rush through me, disturbed by the images, but I pulled the letter from the drawer and read it anyway.

Eisa,

I see her in every shadow. Hear her voice on every breath of the wind. In my dreams, in my ears, in my mind. The Pale Lady—we have to stop her. Just return the sword, and we can shut her away forever. I can’t take this anymore.

I have to do it.

I must.

Ra’jirr

Too distracted by my reading to realize someone had approached, I wasn’t aware of another presence in the room before a dagger was at my throat. I pulled my eyes away from the words, dropping the letter and raising my hands in defense.

The bandit’s breath was foul against my cheek. “What’s a pretty lady doing down here in the dark?” His voice was deep and hollow, sending chills down my spine.

I sighed, trying to seem unafraid. “Digging around where I don’t belong, as usual. I extend my apologies, of course, and I’d be more than happy to just leave.”

He laughed, his chest rumbling against my back. I hadn’t even seen his face yet. “Well spoken for a sneak and a murderer.” He turned my face to look at the fallen bodies that surrounded me. “Looks like you killed my friends, love.”

I gagged internally at the pet name. “Maybe you needed better friends, anyway. They didn’t fight very well.”

He laughed again, the sound reverberating an evil aura that froze my core. The bandit ran his hand over my stomach, pulling me even closer to him. “Funny. Very funny.” He pressed his lips against my ear. “Want to tell me what you’re doing down here?”

As he spoke, the glint of metal armor caught my eye from the next room. I inhaled quietly through my nose, and the wolf within me confirmed that Vilkas was heading toward me. I wiggled a little, trying to position the bandit to look away from the next room. He tightened his grip around me as I moved, but he wasn’t facing Vilkas’ direction anymore.

“Where do you think you’re going, love?” he mumbled, pressing the dagger close enough to my neck to graze my throat and sever the flesh. Just a small cut, but I could feel blood trickling down my neck and onto my armor. “Not trying to leave me now, are you?”

I grit my teeth, willing myself not to move, though every inch of my being screamed to fight. “Of course not.” I shut my eyes, silently wishing for Vilkas to hurry.

The bandit’s fingertips grazed my arm, running down to my clenched fists and entwining his fingers with mine. His lips brushed against my cheek, causing me to squirm and jerk away from him. “Hey, now. Relax.” he whispered against my face, his lips inching closer and closer to mine. “What do you say we have a little fun?”

“No thanks.” Vilkas said from behind him, shoving me away from the bandit’s grasp and wrapping his arm around the man’s neck. I fell before them, turning to look up at the two as Vilkas shoved his blade through the man’s chest. The raggedy bandit stared down at me with wild eyes as blood trickled from his lips, exposing his evident lack of teeth.

Vilkas removed his sword from the bandit and threw him to the side, utter anger resonating from him just before it was replaced with concern. He dropped his sword, lowering himself to the ground beside me.

“Kara?” he asked, reaching out to push the hair that had come loose from my ponytail away from my eyes.

I blinked at him, reaching up to scrub the cheek the bandit had his lips against, as if he’d left some sort of residue on my flesh. I grunted. “Gods, that was disgusting.”

Vilkas put his hands on either side of my face. “By the Nine, Kara, are you alright? He didn’t hurt you, did he?” His eyes focused on the cut on my neck. He pressed his thumb against it, anger building in his chest again. “That son of a bitch. I should kill him again.”

I snorted. “It’s not that bad, Vilkas. I’m fine.” I pulled his hand away from my neck and shook my head. I ran my hand over my face, trying to pull my thoughts together. “You’re winning now, right? I’m only at six bandits.”

Vilkas just stared at me like I was crazy. After a moment, he laughed in amazement and pulled me into a hug. “My gods, Kara.” he breathed quietly as I felt him relax. The anger and worry left his body as he held me, and I rested my cheek against his shoulder. “We’re not separating again. Ever again.”

“Okay.” I said, shutting my eyes. Then, I remembered the letter, and I pulled the paper from the floor to hand it to Vilkas. “Look at this.” I said, placing it in his hands.

His brow furrowed as he read, but as he finished, his eyes widened. “The Pale Lady? Who is that?”

I reached into the side table, pulling out several of the drawings and placing them in front of Vilkas. “Apparently, Ra’jirr was having visions. The Pale Lady was speaking to him, telling him to return the sword the boss took, and nobody believed him. He was only trying to do what she wanted, and the rest of them thought he was losing his mind.”

“Do you think they’re still here?” Vilkas asked, looking back up at me.

“One of these bandits said something about another level of this crypt, lower than this one. We should look there.”

Vilkas looked me over again. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

I kissed him quickly. “Yes, Vilkas. I’m fine.” I stood and extended my hand to pull him to his feet as well. “I’m just losing, probably.”

Vilkas shook his head. “I don’t care about the bet anymore, Kara.”

I frowned. “I do! I’m at six.”

Sighing, he shook his head again, this time an exasperated laugh accompanying him. “Nine.”

“Nine?” I asked, groaning dramatically, striding from the room. “Damnit, I should have killed this creep myself.” I kicked the bandit as I passed. “I trust you too much sometimes, Villy. I’ve become too giving in marriage.”

“You’re not funny.” he grumbled as he followed behind me. We passed the corridors we’d already explored, and I counted the bodies of Vilkas’ victims as we looked for some sort of descending passageway.

“Gods, Vilkas. That’s seven.”

“Aye. Seven.”

I looked back at him. “I’m impressed. I’ll know not to make bets with you in the future.” Another thought crossed my mind shortly after. “How’s the arm?”

Vilkas smirked, but then he looked down at his right hand. As he clenched and unclenched it, his fingers didn’t move in sync. His hand trembled as he focused all of his energy into trying to bend his fingers at his will, but as usual, they didn’t submit. His eyes grew angry, but he just placed his hand in his pocket.

“Nothing new.” he mumbled.

“Um.” I said, blinking as I stopped to stare at him. “Does your skirt have…a pocket?”

Vilkas scowled, confused at the question. “Aye. Two of them actually” I blinked again, then I started to laugh as I continued walking. “What’s so funny?”

“Who gave you pockets? Does all wolf armor come with pockets?”

He shook his head as he shuffled along with me. “No, Tilma stitched them in for me.”

I laughed even louder. “So you chose armor that didn’t have pockets, and once you discovered this, you decided pockets were necessary and had Tilma make you some pockets?”

Vilkas crossed his arms. “I didn’t have Tilma do it, I asked her.”

“You’re so weird.” I added, wiping tears away from my eyes. I’m not even sure why it was so funny to me, but I couldn’t stop. “What do you even put in them?”

“In my pockets?” Vilkas was growing annoyed. “Pocket things. Loose change, my hands…Kara, stop laughing. It’s not that funny.” He laughed too, amused at the fact that I just couldn’t control myself. “Ysmir’s beard, you’ve lost your mind.”

Finally, we found the entry way that descended to a lower level of the crypt, and I looked back at Vilkas. He wiped some of the tears away from my red face as I finally got my laughing under wraps. Then, he gave me a playful nudge before we began walking down the poorly lit path.

A bandit heard us approaching and charge for us. As Vilkas lifted his blade to strike, I knocked an arrow and sent it flying toward the bandit, bringing him down just a moment before Vilkas could. He turned toward me, his eyes wide and a smirk on his face. “Sneaky, little girl.”

“Seven.” I said, skipping past him and to the door ahead of us. I pressed my ear against it, and after waiting a moment for Vilkas to catch up, I pushed it open.

Inside, a forest of lush green trees and teal skies waited for us. I felt my jaw drop as I stepped out into the mist levitating above the damp earth under my feet, staring around in amazement at the beauty of the place. It even smelled amazing, like pine and fresh air.

Vilkas was just as intrigued as I was. “This…is impressive.” he mumbled.

“By the Nine, how did they get a forest underground?” I asked in sheer confusion. It was the most brilliant thing I’d ever seen.

Beyond me, a raspy cough pulled my attention back to the path. A man sat on the ground just ahead of us, his hands covering a wound in his chest. Vilkas tensed beside me, concerned about the man himself, rather than his state of near death. We approached him slowly, keeping our weapons out and ready in case we needed them.

As we grew near, and the man realized we were there, he began to speak. “Finally…someone c-came.”

I crouched beside him, ignoring Vilkas’ protests against my involvement. “You’re hurt badly.” I said to him.

“The c-cat…Ra’jirr…he ambushed m-me.” He could hardly speak as he struggled for breath. It was evident to me then that his lung had been punctured. “He’s t-trying to take back the s-sword. I…can’t…” With a few final, staggered breaths, the man was gone.

I rocked back on my heels, standing beside Vilkas. “I’m assuming this is the boss.”

“Was the boss.” Vilkas corrected, looking down the path. His eyes widened. “My gods…Kara, look!”

I turned to see whatever it was he was referring to, and I felt my jaw drop again. A cat was rushing toward the center of the area before us, sword in hand, where a floating, blue woman was waiting for him. All around her, ball of light were flying and shrieking unintelligible words.

“Vilkas, what the hell is that?”

He cleared his throat. “It’s a wispmother.”

“How do you know what a wispmother is?” I asked him, shaking my head as I watched the scene before me begin to unfold.

“I’ve killed one of everything in Skyrim, remember?” He began to run toward the center of the forest, drawing his blade and willing me to follow him. “The cat’s going to get himself killed. Hey! Stop!”

Ra’jirr turned back to look at Vilkas, but he pressed on, lifting his blade and swinging at the Pale Lady. She released a melodic screeched, accompanied by decadent, harmonized cries from the balls of light around her. Then, she sent a cold spike of ice straight through Ra’jirr. He cried out just before he hit the ground, the sword rolling away from him as the wispmother turned her attention to Vilkas.

Suddenly horrified as the Pale Lady focused all of her energy on trying to kill Vilkas, who made great effort to dodge the spikes of ice flying at him, I rushed toward Ra’jirr. He was crippled and dying, but still alive somehow.

“Tell me what to do.” I said to him. “How do I banish the Pale Lady?”

He stared up at me, his eyes confused at who I was. He reached up to my face, grazing my forehead with a furry paw, then he pushed the sword toward me. I picked up the blade as his eyes shut, his final breath drifting away from him.

I stood, the blade in my hands, and looked toward Vilkas, who was still ducking from the wispmother’s bolts and swinging at the balls of light attacking him. I searched frantically, trying to figure out what to do with this sword.

My eyes rested on a table in the center, a slit in the middle that was lined with the same material the sword was forged from. Hoping I wasn’t wrong, I dashed toward it, lifting the blade and plunging it into the table’s center.

I turned as I heard the Pale Lady screech, harmonized again with her flying balls of light. She turned to me, flying toward me faster than I could think. Just before she crashed into me, she stopped, reaching out to touch my cheek before she faded into the air around me.

Vilkas jogged toward me, drawing conclusions from the sword and the table. I put my hand on his arm, looking up at him. “Are you hurt?”

“Nah.” he said. He shook his head, staring back at the entrance where the boss laid. “It’s a shame. If they hadn’t been greedy bandits, too stubborn to return a sword, they would have lived.”

I nodded. “No matter.” Then I realized there was no one left to fight. “Vilkas, neither of us reached ten bandits.”

He shrugged. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to split the rent tonight.”

“Maybe not.” I said, smiling as my eyes rested on a large chest in the corner. I walked toward it, opening the lid and peering down at the contents. “By the Nine.” I said, picking up a handful of coins. “Villy, I think we may need to become bandits. This is insane.”

We counted out almost four hundred gold together, laughing wildly as we filled Vilkas’ surprisingly useful pockets with the coin. With that, we left the crypt and returned to the fields of Skyrim.

As we headed down the path, I pulled my book of lists out of my pack. Using one of Vilkas’ charcoal pencils, I scratched ‘explore caves or ruins’ off of the list.

“Are we crossing things off as we go?” Vilkas asked, looking down at me.

“No.” I explained. “But I am never exploring another place like that again.”


	2. A Daedra's Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karalissa and Vilkas meet a weird dog outside of Falkreath. As fate would have it, that dog leads them to striking a deal with a Daedric Prince.
> 
> POV: Vilkas

Kara sighed, setting her mug down on the table we were at. “I think I have to sell my horse.”

I felt my brow furrow. “You have a horse?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I have a horse. A beautiful horse.”

I was utterly confused. I had known Kara for two years now, and I had no idea she owned any sort of animal. Being completely honest, Kara was very bad at nurturing things that weren’t human. She’d tried several times to keep plants in our home, but she always ended up killing them. She forgot to water them, she placed them where sunlight couldn’t reach them, and once, she even poured liquor into the pot to try to hydrate it.

Continuing this bout of honesty, Kara had two living plants. One was a potted yellow flower in the windowsill of our bedroom, and the other a large plant on the top of our bookcase with leaves and vines that ran down the side. The only reason they were still living, of course, was that while she was out with Farkas or in Jorrvaskr working, I had switched her plants on more than one occasion. As soon I noticed they were beginning to die, I’d go out and get a new plant and throw the dying ones away.

She was so proud of those silly plants, which is why I kept doing it after so many months. Kara always needed something to take care of, and if the plants gave her that, I would keep switching them until she caught me. And since that was a task that needed a lot of attention, I couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea that she had a living horse.

“Kara, how long have you had a horse?”

She shrugged. “I purchased him in Riften a while ago.”

“A while ago as in…when we were in Riften getting married?”

Kara snorted. “No, Villy. I’ve had him since before I joined the Companions. Purchased him in maybe…early 4E201?”

I nearly choked on my drink. “You’ve had a horse for almost four years? Is that a joke?”

“Why would I joke about a horse?” She seemed so genuinely confused about why I was even asking. “What’s the big deal?”

In my defense, Kara had been drinking for a while, and she was really not good at holding her liquor. After about three drinks, she was a loopy mess. “Kara, are you sure you have a horse?”

She smiled. “Sure, I have a horse. His name is Maven.” Her face fell slightly, and she dropped her cheek to her palm, propped against the table by her elbow. “I never ride him anymore, though. I did in my first few months with the Companions; took him out riding every morning before the rest of Jorrvaskr woke up. Since then, I’ve just been paying Sigurd to take care of him. He grooms him and takes him out in the mornings, feeds him every day. I haven’t even been down to see my horse in a month.” She dropped her head to the table with an audible thud. “I’m horrible. How am I going to be a mother? I can’t even look after a horse.”

“A horse is a little different than a child, Kara.” I said, patting her head. “Besides, you’re busy right now. There are bigger things to worry about than a horse. Or a baby.” A thought crossed my mind, fear building in my chest. “Kara, we’re not worrying about babies right now, right? That’s not why you brought up the horse.”

Kara gave no response. She just grumbled drunkenly from the table top, her hair covering her face.

I nudged her with my foot under the table, growing more and more worried. “Kara, we’re not worried about babies, right?”

“Huh?” she mumbled as she lifted her head to look at me. “Oh, yeah. I mean no. No babies. Just this damned horse I can’t take care of anymore.” She smirked at me as I relaxed significantly. “Don’t get your trousers in a twist, Vilkas.”

“Shut up.” I said, running my hand over my face. I exhaled for a long time, and Kara laughed at my obvious unease. I decided a subject change was called for. “Just sell the horse, if you don’t have time for it.”

“Him.” Kara corrected, lowering her head to the table again. “I can’t just sell him, Villy. I’ll have to interview people who are interested, make sure they know how to care for horses—”

“You don’t actually have to do that, Kara. It’s just a horse.”

“He’s not just a horse, Vilkas. Maven is a very good horse, and he deserves a good home. A good owner.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just sell him to Cassius. He has plenty of space, and he built stables. Plus, he lost his horse in that Imperial ambush in Dawnstar.”

Kara lifted her head, her eyes wide. “Oh my gods, I forgot I had a brother.” Her head hit the table again. “She forgets two living beings.” she mumbled.

I couldn’t suppress a laugh. “She forgets three living beings, because her husband didn’t even know she had a horse.”

A low, exasperated groan escaped from her lowered head. “I’m a terrible horse-owner. I’m a terrible sister. I’m a terrible wife.”

“And you’re a terribly annoying drunk.” I added.

She made some noises, lifting her head to look at me. “You’re right.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I’ll get you something to put in your stomach. Maybe then you can hold a normal conversation.” Kara nodded, placing her head on the table again.

I smiled to myself as I pushed away from the table, humored by Kara’s drunken personality. She was always happy when she was sober, light and bouncy and almost disturbingly euphoric. It was a good balance, the one we had, since I was supposedly always in a bad mood, or so everyone told me. My wife was always all smiles, and that’s one of the main reasons I loved her so much.

When she was drunk, though, she wallowed about things that didn’t make sense, probably because she wasn’t ever actually upset about anything. Just like this business with the horse, that I wasn’t even sure really existed at that point, Kara had little problems that she only brought up when she was drunk. She spilled a glass of milk, she couldn’t find any elastic bands for her hair, or she couldn’t find the right kind of soap for her bath. Tiny, unimportant problems became devastating blows to her ego, and it was hilarious.

I approached the bar, leaning across the surface and ordering another drink for myself and two sandwiches, one for each of us. I paid and thanked the woman, then turned back to look at our table, where the bard was talking to Kara again.

I rolled my eyes, turning back to the bar and watching the tavern maid make our sandwiches. The bard had spent most of the previous day talking to Kara, or so she thought. The blond Breton was flirting with her, and I thought it was funny at first, but I had grown tired of it. He wasn’t even trying to be sneaky or subtle about it, just leaning against the wall by her, smiling and gawking and watching her. It was starting to make me angry, that night, and I couldn’t watch it anymore.

It wasn’t Kara making me angry, it was the bard. Kara was far too nice, unwilling to hurt anyone’s feelings by turning away from a conversation. Though she’d always seemed completely oblivious to it, I knew better than anyone else that she was a beautiful person, both inside and out, and it wasn’t her fault that men only cared about the latter of the two.

I took our food and my mug back to the table, sitting down in my spot across from Kara and listening in on the conversation she was having with the bard.

“It’s just my horse, Delacourt.” she said, her head still resting against the table, though she’d turned to look at him. “I’m just worried about my horse.”

“Is your horse out front?” he asked, smiling stupidly at her. “I’m sure it’s fine out there. Falkreath is very safe, I promise.”

“No.” she mumbled, looking up at me and grinning. “He’s in Whiterun. I think I’ll send him to my brother though. That’s a good idea.”

“Whiterun, huh?” the bard said, “Is that where you’re from? You know, I get to Whiterun every once in a while.”

Kara blinked at me, pursing her lips momentarily and then producing a fake smile. “Delacourt, have I introduced you to Vilkas?”

The bard furrowed his brow. “Well, yes. I met him yesterday, when I met you.”

“Did I mention that he’s my husband?” she said, turning to look back at the bard, who raised his eyebrows as the smile on his face fell.

Around my sandwich, I glared, opening my mouth to form a single word. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.” He cleared his throat and lowered his eyes. “Well, I think I’ll get back to my music, then.” He pushed himself off of the wall, picking up his lute and walking back to the center of the room, where he began to strum the chords of Tale of Tongues.

Kara sat up, pushing her hair away from her face and slouching in her chair. She smiled, though, as she looked at me. “Thank you. You’re scarier than I am.”

“True.” I said, pushing her sandwich toward her. She gasped and grinned, picking up the food and taking a huge bite. “But he didn’t leave because he’s scared of me. He left because he was trying to court you.”

Kara stopped chewing, staring at me with heavily-lidded eyes. “He was not.” she said around a mouthful of bread and meat.

“He was.” I said, pointing past her toward the bard. “See? He’s still watching you.”

“Yeah, because you’re pointing at him.” she countered as she lifted the top piece of bread and pulled the cheese off of her sandwich. She offered it to me, and I added it to mine.

“No. He’s been watching you since yesterday. He fancies you.”

Kara wrinkled her nose. “How could you know that, Villy? You’re not him.”

I raised my eyebrow. “No, I’m not. But I am a man, and I know what men like.” I took another bite of my sandwich. “Men like pretty girls who listen to them talk, and who talk to them. And you, Kara, are especially pretty, you listen better than anyone I know, and you talk way too much.”

She groaned, finishing the first half of her sandwich and leaning back in her chair. “I don’t get it. I don’t get men.”

“You don’t get me?” I asked with a small grin, finishing my sandwich.

“Oh, I get you, Vilkas. It’s everyone else I don’t understand.”

“You understand Farkas.”

She shook her head. “That’s Farkas.”

“Farkas is a man.” I added, raising an eyebrow again.

Kara gave me a look that was probably intended to be menacing, but as always, it just wasn’t. “Farkas is my best friend. He’s just a little baby, and I’d be lost without him.” She looked down at her sandwich. “Will you finish this?”

“Aye.” I said, and she slid her plate toward me. I pulled the tomato slices off of her sandwich, then I looked back up at her. “You’re not going to yack, are you?”

“I don’t think so.” she said, putting her hand on her stomach. “I think I’m done with Falkreath. There’s nothing to do here.”

“I agree.” I said, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Where do you want to go next?”

Kara spent a moment in thought. “Well, I don’t know.” She reached into the pocket of her armor. After a few fidgeting seconds, she pulled out a septim. Balancing it on the edge of her thumb, she looked back up at me. “Heads we go east, tails we go west.”

I nodded, a smile on my face as I finished her sandwich and wiped my hands on the skirt of my armor. She flipped the coin, catching it as it came back down and flipping it onto the back of her hand.

She smirked, holding her closed fist toward me to reveal our plans. “West it is.”

Kara and I walked down the stone path that guided wanderers through Falkreath, headed toward the wooden arch that signaled we were on our way out of town. It had only been a week since we’d left Whiterun, and so far all we’d done was raid a cave. I knew Kara was growing restless, as she always did, and in all honesty I was too.

I watched as Kara repositioned her pack on her shoulder, adjusting the strap and straightening it to rest flat against her back. She noticed me watching, looking up at me with large brown eyes and wrinkling her nose. As she looked away from the path and up at me, she tripped over one of the stones on the path, staggering forward and reaching out, prepared to fall.

I grabbed her by her elbow, steadying her and laughing. She looked back up at me, a nearly menacing look on her face. I shrugged. “Not my fault you attract accidents.”

“I do not.” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. It was true, though. Kara was a walking magnet for accidents, and she always had been. From the time she tried to stop Aela in a fight and caught an elbow to the face to the time she smacked her face on Cassius’ door when she tried to open it, she was a mess of bruises and clumsiness.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to me. “Better keep close to me, dear. Wouldn’t want you to walk into a pit or something.”

Kara sighed, a smile on her face. “A spike filled pit. Or a filthy skeever den.” She shook her head. “Yeah, I know.”

“Have you done either of the two?” I asked as we passed under the edge of Falkreath’s watch-walk. Normally, I would have let it slide, but that was a very specific comment.

“No.” she explained, putting her hand in the middle of my back. “Marcurio used to make fun of me for being so clumsy. He always said that I needed to avoid those two things, because if anyone would fall into them, it would be me.”

“He was probably right.” I said, giving her a squeeze. “You would be the one.”

Kara was silent for a moment, then she inhaled quickly through her nose. She looked up at me. “Vilkas, do you smell that?”

I also sniffed the air, the scent of wet dog filling my nostrils. I subtly sniffed my armpit, hoping it wasn’t me. Finding that it wasn’t, and knowing it wasn’t Kara, I looked around to find the source of the smell, just as Kara was doing.

From around the corner, a large gray dog trotted up to us. As soon as she saw it, Kara squealed and bolted forward, dropping to her knees and petting the dog in front of us. She scratched it behind the ears, making these googly noises about what a good dog he was.

I laughed, putting my hands on my hips. “You’ve only just met it. How can you know if it’s a good dog?”

She looked back at me, her brows furrowed and a smirk on her face. “He’s a good dog. I can tell.”

“ _She is exactly what I was looking for.” a shrill, annoying voice said from inside of my head. “I can’t talk to her though, so I’ll have to settle for you.”_

“What the hell?” I mumbled, gripping the sides of my head. I blinked, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Kara looked up at me. “Are you alright, Vilkas?”

I blinked at her, just before my eyes settled on the dog, a sly look on its stupid face. I leaned down to it, my hand still against the side of my head. “Did you just talk?”

“ _Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat men…and you’re surprised by me? Yes. I just talked. And I’m continuing to do so. I’d rather talk to her, but I can’t. So I’ve settled on the hulking, angry, gothic Nord who’s traveling with this nice young lady.”_

“Easy there, mutt. Watch your tongue.”

Kara stared at me like I was crazy. “Vilkas…are you talking to a dog right now?”

“ _Mutt? That’s funny, coming from you. You’re both werewolves! I’m not stupid.”_ The dog barked audibly, then continued to talk in my head. “ _But you can put thoughts in other people’s heads, right? That’s why I can do the same for you!”_

“Well, stop!” I told him. “It’s annoying.”

_“My name is Barbas, and I have a problem I think you can help sort out.”_

“What could a dog need help with?”

_“My master and I had a bit of a falling out. We got into an argument and it got rather…heated. He’s kicked me out until I find someone who can settle our disagreement. That’s where you two come in.”_

“Vilkas, what is going on?” Kara said, tugging on the sleeve of my armor.

I sighed, straightening my back. “The dog wants help. His owner is mad at him.”

“Aww.” Kara cooed, petting the dog again. “We have to help him, Villy.”

I snorted. “Kara, we’re not helping some mangy mutt in the woods.”

“ _Takes one to know one.”_

“Shut up.”

Kara blinked at me. “What?”

“Not you!” I explained. “The dog!”

“Be nice to the dog!” she said, furrowing her brow again. “He’s lost.”

I folded my arms. “Well he’s not being nice to me either.”

 _“I don’t have to be nice, and if you don’t help, I’ll just follow you around and say things in your head that your nice lady here can’t hear.”_ He licked Kara’s face, earning a melodic stream of giggles. “ _My master would like her. She’d be nice to him.”_

“I don’t care what your master would like. That’s my wife.”

“ _Not like that, idiot. Since he banished me, Vile’s been rather weak. He can’t manifest very far from one of his shrines.”_

I blinked at the dog. “Vile? As in…Clavicus Vile?”

“ _Yes! What, did you think normal dogs could talk?”_

“Clavicus Vile?” Kara asked. “Vilkas, please tell me what’s going on.”

“The dog’s master is Clavicus Vile, and he’s made him angry. Now he wants us to help.” I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers, the shrill sound of Barbas’ voice giving me a headache.

Kara gasped. “Clavicus Vile, as in the Daedric Prince?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Yes.”

She frowned. “We can’t ignore a deadric prince, Vilkas.” She turned her attention back to the dog. “What’s his name?”

I sighed. “Barbas.”

Kara smiled, scratching behind the dog’s ears again. “Where are we headed, Barbas?”

_“I know there’s a cult that worships him at Haemar’s Shame. We should be able to talk to him there. If this works out, I’ll make sure you’re rewarded. Just don’t trust any offers he makes you…okay?”_

I groaned. “Haemar’s Shame.”

Kara stood, bouncing to her feet and grabbing my hand. “I have no idea where that is, but we’ll figure it out. Come on, you two. Let’s go talk to Clavicus Vile. We’ll sort this whole mess out!”

“ _I like her more than you.”_ Barbas noted as we walked away.

I scowled in disgust. “I feel the same way.”

Barbas was relatively quiet most of the way to Haemar’s Shame. We were nearly there, after walking for almost an hour. He’d only made commentary on the journey, which way to turn, which direction to travel. It was actually nice, walking toward the mountain that grew larger as we approached.

“You could cross this off of your list, you know.” I said to Kara as I pointed to the mountain in the distance. “I think we’ll be treading that.”

She smiled, lacing her fingers in mine. “I hope you’re right. I’ll have to bring back some evidence for Cassius, and you can vouch for me that they actually are fun to do.”

I laughed. “I promise I’ll tell him.”

She reached up to kiss the edge of my jaw. “Thank you.”

“ _We’re cutting through here.”_ Barbas said in my head, and I scowled at the sound of his voice.

“What’s wrong, Villy?”

I nodded to the dog, who was staring up at her. “The dog says we’re taking a shortcut.”

“Oh.” she said, smiling down at the dog. “Okay. I like shortcuts.”

_“Ask her why she likes you, Villy, because I don’t get it. You’re mean.”_

“Don’t call me that, dog.” I said, glaring down at him and cursing the gods for ending my blissful silence. “I’m not mean.”

“ _You are.”_

“I’m not.”

“ _You really are.”_

“No, I’m not!”

Kara laughed. “You sound like you’re having an argument with yourself. Like you have voices in your head.”

“Well, there is a voice in my head.” I mumbled, glaring at Barbas. “One very annoying, shrill, nasally voice and a companion who smells like a dirty dog.”

Kara mocked offense. “I swear, I just bathed, Vilkas! I can do it again if I smell that bad.”

I stared at her a moment, my grimace twisting into a small smile. “I didn’t mean a Companion, Kara. I mean…you know what I meant.”

She laughed again, cradling my arm like a child’s toy. “I know. I know.” I watched her laugh, the light that twinkled in her brown eyes making my heart swell.

“ _How sweet. The scary Nord isn’t as scary when he’s talking to the nice lady.”_

I groaned. “I swear to Talos, dog, stay out of my business.”

“ _Your business is my business now, Villy. I’m in your head.”_

“Don’t call me that.” I said, rubbing my temple. “Get out of my head, and we’ll all be better off. Talk to Kara instead, she’d like that.”

Kara nodded. “I would! Talk to me!”

“ _Doesn’t work like that, Villy.”_ I scowled at the nickname again. I liked it, when it was Kara using it. I’m not sure why, but hearing it from anyone else just made my blood boil, because it was like they were making fun of her instead of me.. “ _Your mind was more susceptible to hearing me than hers was.”_

“That doesn’t even make sense. Kara is twice as open-minded as I am.” Kara nodded beside me, still seeming eager to talk to the dog but oblivious to the conversation I was carrying in my head.

 _“You’re missing the point. Your brain is stronger than hers. I’m not saying she’s stupid, because frankly, I think you’re the dumber of the two.”_ When I glared at him, he explained further. _“You let your brain decide what to think. She lets her heart decide.”_

I sighed, absorbing that information and turning back to Kara. “He can’t talk to you. Just me.”

Kara wrinkled her nose, her face conveying disappointment. “Think it has something to do with your wolfy, brain-talking thing?”

I nodded, pushing some hair behind her ear. “Aye. It’s that.”

“ _I’m blushing back here. Want some alone time?”_

“Shut up, dog.”

He laughed in my head, picking up pace to walk ahead of us again. “ _The shortcut’s up here. Come on, Villy.”_ As I grimaced and shook my head, he laughed again, the sound like nails against metal, a loud scraping that echoed off of the inside of my skull.

I mumbled to Kara, low enough that only she could hear. “I hate this dog, Kara. I may kill it.”

She nudged me. “You won’t kill the dog. I won’t let you.”

I shrugged, earning another nudge from Kara as we approached a large gate. I watched as Barbas pushed it open with his nose, creating an opening just big enough for him to slip through. I stared at the surroundings, the charred remainders of bodies and ash drifting in the wind around the city. As I pulled the gate open, Kara close behind me, I was greeted by crumbled buildings, coated in blood and dusted with black smoke. The only thing that could be deemed salvageable from the entire mess was a lone Imperial banner, flapping in the wind that blew around the city and circulated the smell of death.

“What is this place?” I asked, directing my comment toward Barbas, who was trotting ahead of us.

Instead, it was Kara who answered. “This is Helgen.” Her voice was low and pained, and when I turned to her, she had a look on her face that I hadn’t seen before. It was somewhere between sorrow and hatred, the latter being an emotion I’d never known her to express.

I walked to her, taking her hand in my own. “Kara, we don’t have to be here. We can leave the dog. We can go somewhere else.”

“We can’t leave Barbas.” She shook her head, trying not to make eye contact with me. “Its fine, Vilkas. We’re just passing through.”

I used my knuckles to lift her chin, turning her eyes toward me. “It’s not fine, Kara. You’re in pain. I don’t want that for you.”

Kara put her hands on either side of my abdomen, resting her head against my chest for just a moment while she inhaled and exhaled deeply. Straightening again and pulling away from me, she shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She offered me a fake smile, then followed after the dog.

I sighed, trailing after her and silently cursing myself for not knowing. If I’d been paying attention on the walk instead of being annoyed by the dog, I would have been able to at least notice that we were heading in the direction of Helgen. Kara never talked about Helgen; it was the one thing I never brought up. After Viarmo had interrupted us in the Bannered Mare, more than a year ago, and Kara had been reminded of her day at Helgen, she couldn’t control her own emotions. It was the only time we’d ever talked about it, and I wouldn’t ever ask her to talk about it again.

I would never know what she saw, the day she wandered into the rubble we walked through now and tried to find her brother. A sick image flitted across my line of sight, Kara digging through bodies and sobbing as she tried to find a corpse that vaguely resembled Cassius. The thought made my stomach turn, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and squeeze away any lingering bit of sorrow she was feeling.

Another thought crossed my mind, the memory of how she’d worked herself up the day I found out she was even here when Helgen was attacked. The image of her, a fresh scar across her face and tears streaming down her cheeks, her fists clenched as she shook violently and stared down the edge of that cliff. I still couldn’t decide if she was going to jump, and I don’t know if she had decided for herself, but I never wanted to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t caught up to her. And now, I wanted nothing more than to take her as far away as I could from the place that caused her so much pain.

“ _What wrong with her?”_ the dog asked in my head, watching Kara staring up at the buildings and stepping several feet around the piles of bodies that still remained on the ground.

I stared back at the dog, shaking my head and clenching my jaw, trying to convey the message that it wasn’t something to be discussed.

He slowed his trot, closing the distance between us so he was walking right in front of me. “ _Was she here when it happened?”_ I nodded to him, but also lifted my hand and tilted it side to side, silently explaining that it was more complicated than that. “ _Does it hurt her to be here?”_

At that question, I lowered my hand and nodded slowly, looking up at Kara. She was walking quickly ahead of us, eager to leave the fallen city. The dog whimpered, nudging my leg with his nose. “ _Tell her I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”_ I shook my head at him, scowling as he asked me to do his bidding. “ _Please. I don’t like when she’s sad.”_

I looked down at the down, sighing to myself because I didn’t like when she was sad either. I patted the dog’s head and quickened my pace slightly to catch up to Kara.

Once I reached her, I placed my hand against the small of her back. “The dog says he’s sorry for bringing you here.”

“ _Tell her if I’d known, I wouldn’t have.”_

“He says if he’d known, he wouldn’t have.”

Kara smiled a little, looking down to the dog and extending her hand to him. He rushed to walk beside her, rubbing his head against her hand. “It’s okay, Barbas. It’s not your fault.”

He whimpered to her, staying silent in my head. She took a moment to pet him as we walked through the gate on the other side of the city. We were at the edge of the mountain now, and we began our slow descent to Haemor’s Shame.

My hand still firmly against her back, I leaned down to Kara. “We’re climbing a mountain together.” She beamed at me, and I smirked. “I haven’t decided if I’m having fun or not yet. The dog is certainly dampening the experience for me.”

She furrowed her brow, mocking exasperation. “Please, Vilkas. You’re having fun and you know it.” Kara wrapped her fingers in mine. “We’re going to climb a mountain, talk Clavicus Vile into forgiving little Barbas, and you’re going to have a damned good time.”

In my head, the dog laughed, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing along. “You’re right, dear.” I leaned down to her ear, whispering low enough for only her to hear. “But only because I’m with you.”

She smiled at me and gave me a quick kiss on the lips before turning her attention back to the path. Her cheeks were rosy, a soft blush against her pale skin that made her eyes sparkle.

“ _I know why she likes you now.”_ the dog whispered. “ _I was wrong. You’re not mean.”_

I laughed, looking down at the dog. “No, you were right. I am mean.”

“ _Just to me, and that doesn’t count. I’m annoying. That’s why Clavicus sent me away.”_ The dog whimpered, bumping against Kara’s leg again.

The three of us climbed the mountain’s steep hill, taking in the scenery that surrounded us. As we became higher and higher off of the ground, snow began to fall as the temperature around us fell. A thick white blanket covering the soil beneath our feet radiating sheer cold air, and Kara shivered against the wind that blew around us.

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be a Nord, you sure don’t deal with the cold very well.” I said, reaching into my pack.

She crossed her bare arms, exposed in her leather armor. “Maybe I spent too much time with Viarmo, and I’m becoming a Breton. Half Nord, half Elf, all freezing.” I pulled a thick, black sweater out of my pack and handed it to her, taking her pack and weapon from her shoulder so she could put it on. As she slipped it over her head, the material ruffled her hair. She slid her arms through the sleeves and pushed her hair away from her face. Kara smiled up at me, taking her pack and bow back. “Thank you, Villy.”

I nodded, smiling at her little red nose in the cold wind. I turned back to the dog. “How much farther?”

“ _It’s up ahead.”_ he said, picking up pace to dash toward the entrance. “ _Be ready!_ ” he called, his voice twice as loud in my head as he yelled.

I drew my sword from my hip, balancing the weight in my hand as Kara readied her bow, knocking an arrow against the tight string. We entered the cave, and I was alarmed to see Barbas already fighting several vampires.

“Shit.” I mumbled, leaning out of sight. Kara stared at me in confusion, waiting for an explanation. “The damned dog could have told us that Vile’s worshippers were vampires.”

Kara’s eyes widened. “We can’t contract vampirism, right? Because we’re already…”

I shook my head. “Kodlak said that we couldn’t contract any other diseases with the beast’s blood, but he had the Rot.”

“Aren’t you born with that? Like isn’t it always there?”

“I don’t know, Kara.” I explained, tapping my heel against the side of the cave as I watched Barbas becoming overwhelmed by the amount of vampires rushing at him. “All I know is vampires really don’t like werewolves.”

Kara nodded, cuffing the sleeves of my sweater to expose her hands. “Alright, well we just won’t let them near us. We’ll be fine.”

“Aye.” I said, leaning down to kiss her. “We’ll be fine.” As we pulled away from each other, after exchanging a nod, we charged in after Barbas.

Kara stepped into her stance to fire arrows as soon as she was in a spot high enough up, launching arrows toward the vampires that surrounded Barbas. I ducked behind her, making sure not to mess her up, then ran down the ramp that stood between me and the dog. I lunged at a vampire nearest to the ramp’s end, severing its head and moving to another in a matter of seconds.

An arrow flew past me, striking the skull of the vampire looming over Barbas, and it releases an ear-splitting shriek as it hit the ground. I charged the vampire just beyond it, wrapping my arm around its neck and driving my blade through its back.

Kara hopped off of the ramp, landing on her feet and walking hurriedly toward Barbas. “Are you alright?” she asked the dog, who nodded to her and then toward the hall that continued.

Another vampire waited in the room beyond us, but Kara took it down in a matter of seconds. After that, there was minimal work to do. A straggler every now and then, but the walk to Vile’s shrine was quiet.

When we approached the room with the shrine, two vampires emerged from the shadows, their teeth bared and daggers drawn. When they caught our scent, which probably smelled foul to them, they screamed and ran faster. Kara fired an arrow at the one farther away, but the vampire dodged and rushed toward her with indescribable speed. I caught the one nearest me by the throat, giving it one good slice across the stomach as Kara’s second arrow made contact with the other.

Without any enemies left, we walked toward the shrine, watching as Barbas kneeled before it. Kara and I exchanged a look, unsure of what to do next.

Kara stepped forward, lowering her bow and staring up at the shrine. “Lord Vile, we have a request of you.”

The shrine shook, a low voice echoing off of the walls around it. “ **By all means, let’s hear it. It’s the least I can do, since you already helped me grant one final wish for my last worshippers. They were suffering so from vampirism, and begged me for a cure. Then you two came in and ended their misery! I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”** There was an awkward pause, and Kara gave me a curious glance. “ **So, what’s your heart’s desire? What kind of deal can we strike?”**

I stepped forward then, evening my distance to the shrine with Kara’s. She spoke before I could. “We’re just here to reunite you with Barbas.”

Clavicus Vile laughed. “ **Ugh. That insufferable pup? Forget it. Request denied. No deal.** ”

“What?” Kara asked.

“ **I’m glad to be rid of him. Even if it does mean I’m stuck in this pitiful shrine, in the back end of…nowhere.”** He was silent for a moment. “ **Well…perhaps there is a way he could earn his place back at my side. Maybe. But no promises.”**

“What’s your offer?” I asked, not liking the way this was headed.

“ **There’s an axe. An incredibly powerful axe. An axe powerful enough for me to have quite a bit of fun, indeed. If you bring it to me, I’ll grant you my boon. No strings attached. No messy surprises. At least, not for you. As I recall, it’s resting in Rimerock Burrow. Barbas can lead you right to it. The little mutt might even earn his place back at my side.”**

I scowled, extremely irritated. “So after we’ve come all this way to bring you this damned dog, you want us to go out with him again?”

Clavicus laughed. “ **It’s your head he’s in, isn’t it?”** As I nodded, his laugh echoed through the room again. “ **Good luck.”**

I grimaced, hoisting the axe over my shoulder again as we trekked the path to Clavicus Vile’s shrine for the second time. It was a beautiful weapon, a dark battleaxe with intricate designs along the blade. It was heavy, though, and even with my left arm stronger than my right, it was difficult to carry.

Kara watched me adjust the axe again, and knowing it was a two-handed weapon, she reached out to touch my injured arm. “Vilkas, I can take a turn carrying it.”

I smiled to myself, knowing she would have more difficulty carrying it with two arms than I would with one, but also knowing that she would carry it for miles if I asked her to. I shook my head. “Don’t worry, pup. I want to hand it to Vile myself.”

“ _Swallow your pride and let the nice lady carry it.”_

I exhaled for a long time. “Shut. Up. Dog.”

“What is he saying?” Kara asked, leaning around me and looking at the dog.

“It’s just making commentary. Unnecessary, annoying commentary.”

She furrowed her brow. “He can’t be that bad.”

“ _I’m a good dog, remember Villy?”_

I stopped walking, turning toward the dog and lowering my gaze. “Listen to me, you damned dirty dog. I don’t care who your master is, I’ll kick you off of the side of this mountain and watch you tumble to your death, and I won’t feel the tiniest bit of regret about it. I’ll sleep soundly knowing I never have to hear your annoying voice again. Now shut the hell up.”

“ _I’m a damned dirty dog? I’d be careful with the words you choose, because I may be a dirty dog, but you’re a dog with a gimp leg! What good is a dog without all four legs?”_

Anger rippled through my skull, and I dropped the axe as I lunged at the dog. He laughed in my head, dodging away from me as Kara ran up behind me, trying to stop me. I only saw the dog though, and I jumped for it again, the beast hearing its beating heart and the flow of blood through its body. A low growl built in my chest, and before I could catch the dog, its fur grazing my fingertips, Kara jumped on me and knocked me to the ground.

We hit the snow with a thud, the white powdered-water flying up around us. I landed on my back, the blue sky blinding me just before Kara’s face blocked my view. There was so much anger in her eyes, and I felt guilty for attacking the dog immediately.

“Vilkas.” she said, her voice low enough for only me to hear.

“I’m sorry, Kara.” I said to her, my voice at the same volume as hers.

She shook her head. “What did he say?”

My brows furrowed, and then I understood that the anger in her eyes was not directed at me. I looked up at the sky, wishing we had never met the damned dog as I decided to protect it, since Kara like the dog. “I’m overreacting, Kara. It’s nothing.”

She stood after that, the snow caked against her legs and her cloth boots, no doubt soaked now. She walked over to the dog, who ran to greet her thinking it had won. Kara lowered herself to eye-level with the dog, then she gripped its ear and pulled it toward her.

“Do you think it’s smart to piss off the people who hold your fate in their hands? Do you think it’s smart to make fun of a big Nord with Clavicus Vile’s axe in his possesion?” The dog shook his head slowly, and Kara pulled him closer. “You know we’re werewolves, don’t you?” It nodded. “So, do you really want to make two large werewolves angry?”

“ _Tell her I’m sorry. Tell her I’ll stop. I’ll be good.”_

“He says he’ll stop.” I said, sitting up in the snow.

Kara let the dog go. “Good. Now walk ten paces ahead of us, and don’t stop until you’re at Clavicus Vile’s shrine.”

The dog whimpered, rushing ahead of us toward the entrance to Haemar’s Shame. Kara walked back to me, her arm extended to pull me off of the ground. Once I was on my feet, she reached up to brush the snow out of my hair. I put my hand against her cold face, running my thumb across the dark scar over her eye.

“I’m sorry, Kara. I’m just angry. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

She sighed, placing her hand over my own. “You never overreact, Vilkas. You’re grumpy, but you’re kind and giving, so whatever he said wasn’t nice and I don’t like that. I won’t keep defending someone who’s hurting you.”

“He’s just saying little things to push my buttons. I was just…angry. I’m not anymore. I promise.”

“Well I am angry. I’m angry that the dog is saying things to you, because they’re not good things. I’m angry that we’ve traveled all over Skyrim to find this damned axe, and the whole reason we’re doing it is to help a dog that’s making fun of you. And I’m…I’m angry about Helgen, angry that we had to walk through it.” She rested her forehead against my chin. “I just don’t like being angry, Vilkas.”

“I know.” I said, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m sorry you had to go back there.”

“And I’m sorry Barbas is saying mean things to you.”

I sighed, pressing my lips against her forehead. “That’s a little different.”

“Well, no matter.” she said, pulling away from me. She kissed my chin, stepping away from me and lifting the axe with a grunt. She hoisted it over her shoulder, hunching forward and walking up the pathway again. “Let’s finish this.”

“Kara, I can carry that.” I told her, following closely behind.

She grumbled, looking over her shoulder at me. “I know you can.” she mumbled as she continued to walk forward. I smiled to myself again, the immense amount of love I had for that woman billowing through my chest. She felt it to, and she gave me a wink.

Vile’s shrine wasn’t much farther, and once we made it to the entrance, it was a very quick walk to the large, marble statue in the coldest and lowest room. The bodies of the vampires were still there, cluttered amongst the white, icy room.

Kara set the axe down with a thud. “We’re back.” she said, panting in exhaustion from stubbornly carrying the axe to the shrine.

 **“Ah, you’ve got the axe! And my dog! Splendid**.”

“Now fulfill your end of the bargain.” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

“ **Excellent work. The heroes and their faithful companion, retrieving the ancient artifact for the prince. It’s almost…storybook.”** There was a brief pause, then an evil laugh. “ **Ah, but it’s almost a shame to give a weapon like that away, doesn’t it? I suppose I could be persuaded to let you keep it…”**

“What’s the catch?” I asked, intrigued by the offer. I couldn’t use it with my ‘gimp leg’, and Kara didn’t have the muscle for it. However, the axe would make a perfect souvenir for Farkas.

“ **You can keep it, but only if you use the axe to kill Barbas. Simple as that.”**

My eyes flickered to the dog, who apparently couldn’t hear our exchanging of words. He stared stupidly up at Vile, begging for forgiveness of a crime unknown to us. I thought about the satisfaction it would give me to kill the damned dog, to lift this damned axe over my head and bring it down on the dog and listen to its annoying voice fade away from my memory. A thought crossed my mind, one of the first things Barbas said to me. “ _Just don’t trust any offers he makes you…okay?”_

Then, I looked at Kara. She stood beside me, the axe in her hands, and she actually extended it to me. I blinked in surprise, feeling my heart sink as I processed the fact that she would let me kill the dog. I knew, deep in my soul, that Kara did not want Barbas to die. She shoved her feelings aside, though, to allow me the momentary satisfaction of winning the battle. She amazed me. She made my heart so light and I loved her for that, for giving everything to everyone else, even if she didn’t agree with it.

And it’s for that reason that I took the axe from her, balanced the weight in my hands again, and instead of turning to the dog and striking, I tossed it at Clavicus Vile’s feet.

“No deal. Take the axe and take your stupid dog.”

The room sighed, inhaling and exhaling as Vile did. “ **You’re no fun at all. Guess I’ll have to make my own fun elsewhere. And with the pup back, I’ll be restored to full power. There’s a whole world just waiting for me!”**

Suddenly worried that we had upset a Daedric prince, I took Kara’s hand, pulling her close to me as the room trembled. We stood silently, our fingers interlocked and our palms pressed together, as stones fell from the walls and crashed against the floor. Then, with a screeching sound that ripped through my eardrum, Barbas faded into the air around us. From Clavicus Vile’s leg formed another marble statue. A dog, just below Vile’s extended palm, grinning stupidly in our direction.

“ **Ah, that feels so much better! You forget how nice supreme power feels until you’ve been stuck in a cave for a few years. It’s a shame you wished for something as dull as me taking back the mutt. Quite a lack of imagination on your part. A lack of ambition that really ought to be punished. Perhaps by turning you into a worm, or maybe a few decades of…”**

There was a deafening silence in the room, radiating off of the walls and maximizing the volume of our racing hearts. Then, Vile spoke again. “ **Oh fine, you dumb pup. Have my boon and be done with it.”** The unmoving statue dropped a mask at our feet. “ **I have more interesting deals to make, anyway.”**

Taking a hint, Kara picked up the mask and we fled from the shrine. Out in the cold, wintery air again, Kara and I laughed, staring at the ugly mask.

She stared up at me, her little nose red and her brown eyes sparkling. “You didn’t kill him.”

I sighed. “No, I didn’t kill him.”

Kara beamed at me, stretching up on the tips of her toes to give me a long kiss on the lips. Her lips were cold, and the horns at the top of the mask she held jabbed me in the stomach, but it was Kara, so it was perfect.

As we separated, she looked down at the mask. “What do you think it does?”

I raised an eyebrow, taking the mask from her hands. “I don’t know, but I don’t think we want to find out.” I tossed it into the snow surrounding the cave’s entrance, hoping someone else would come across it and make Barbas their problem. “I don’t have any intention of striking deals with him ever again.”

Kara nodded, a grin on her face. “Sounds smart to me, Villy.” She took my hand, pulling me away from Haemar’s Shame. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” she whispered.


End file.
